Glenn Lodbrok

Shinra SOLDIER: P0 Class.

He volunteers for a mission in enemy territory—one with a large reward—to locate a site for the construction of a mako reactor. He leads his friends to the Rhadoran isles on his first mission as leader.

Official website description^[2][3]

Glenn Lodbrok is a character in the Final Fantasy VII series. He originally appeared as a supporting character in the now-defunct Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier mobile game. His role was later expanded in the "First Soldier" storyline in Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, serving as a protagonist alongside his comrades, Lucia Lin and Matt Winsord. He also appears as a supporting character in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Nineteen years prior to Final Fantasy VII Remake, Glenn and his friends serve as passive or P0-type SOLDIERs, an early model that predates the active-type enhanced SOLDIERs. During the events of Ever Crisis, Glenn and his comrades are heavily involved in past events with a young Sephiroth.

History[]

Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier[]

Glenn joined Shinra Electric Power Company's SOLDIER program because of his grandma, who wanted him to become a good person and do good things. In [ μ ] – εγλ 1988, Glenn saved Matt Winsord from a behemoth. The pair were subsequently rescued by Lucia Lin. Glenn, Lucia, and Matt passed a combat simulation mission against cripshays by working as a team. Their camaraderie, along with Glenn's request, led to them being assigned to their first field mission as a team.

In [ μ ] – εγλ 1992, Glenn led his first inaugural mission with "Team Glenn", consisting of himself, Matt, and Lucia, on a secret mission to the Rhadore Archipelago to survey sites for a new mako reactor. En route, their helicopter was attacked by the remnants of the Rhadoran army, and an explosion tore the cockpit clean off, causing a crash-landing on the island of Sijad.

Glenn found Lucia near the crash site. The two were attacked by a baloir before changing into backup outfits. They grabbed a mako detection kit and set off to find Matt.

In the Burmun Forest, they reunited with Matt and assessed their situation. Matt suggested they send a distress signal since they were diverted so far off course, but Glenn insisted they complete their mission so he could be paid. The lack of military presence and life forms other than baloir led Matt and Lucia to conclude the island they had landed on was not the main island.

On the La'paina coast, the three found themselves surrounded by baloir before a dog appeared, accompanied by a Rhadoran boy. The boy and his dog helped Team Glenn escape the baloirs, and despite Matt and Lucia's reservations about following the commands of an enemy, Glenn accepted the risk and continued to follow the boy and his dog to a safe place.

In the safety of a nearby orchard, the boy introduced himself as Rosen and his dog as Refu. After an attack by the Baloir King, Rosen speculated that the flow of mana was in imbalance. Despite recognizing the team to be from Shinra, he showed no ill will towards the trio besides an insistence that they leave the island. He invited them to his cabin, offering to lend them his boat. At his cabin, Glenn learned that Rosen was an orphaned boy tasked with devoting his life to living alone on Sijad, where he would dutifully monitor the flow of mana and notify the main island of its status with smoke from a tall chimney.

Even after leaving the island, Glenn still worried about Rosen, constantly checking the smoke from the chimney to ensure he was okay. On the main island, he and the others set up camp inside Sunsin Cave, then explored Logues Ruins in search of a suitable site with sufficient mako. Upon sending the coordinates of a suitable site, the trio were attacked by Rhadoran soldiers and forced to flee into the cave. There, they faced a massive baloir variant Glenn nicknamed Stamp.

Sephiroth descended to battle, eliminating the Rhadoran threat. Glenn was initially grateful for the help, until he learned that Sephiroth was to take command of Team Glenn. He bitterly called Sephiroth a "cyborg", insisting that Sephiroth's genetic modification made him a cheater and that he would never be one of them.

As the four SOLDIERs investigated the Cawpine Caverns, Glenn learned that despite the legends surrounding the hero, in reality this was Sephiroth's first mission. The boy did not want to be a hero, instead wishing for a normal life. In spite of his young age and regular social faux pas, Glenn trusted Sephiroth's leadership and his "cyborg instincts" to split up within the cavern. When they reunited with Sephiroth, Glenn discovered that Sephiroth had killed the children and elderly who were fleeing the caverns.

Sephiroth had been trained to believe that such heartlessness was strength, Glenn pulled the boy into a hug. He agreed that it was life or death on the battlefield, but that Sephiroth had nothing to prove. He suggested Sephiroth try showing some compassion. Sephiroth insisted he was not a cyborg, and Glenn realized how much the comment had hurt him. He apologized and gave Sephiroth another hug.

Over the next ten days, Glenn acted as a mentor and father figure to Sephiroth, trying to convince the boy to slack off and not be so hard on himself. Sephiroth, in turn, taught Glenn to consider different experiences and worldviews, particularly the Rhadoran's view on death and the Lifestream.

Shinra's attempts to construct a reactor instead resulted in a mana torrent that tore the island apart. Fearing for Rosen's safety, Glenn punched the chief engineer while Lucia commandeered a helicopter. Though they gave Sephiroth the opportunity to leave with the other engineers, Sephiroth insisted on joining the trio as they flew to Sijad to rescue Rosen.

On the island, Rosen refused to believe that Glenn and his team had killed all his people and ran off. Sephiroth insisted that he try to convince Rosen to evacuate, and Glenn obliged. He, Matt, and Lucia questioned the morality of their actions, comparing the resulting calamity as akin to the end of the world. Glenn declared that he would make his own decisions and take responsibility for his own actions.

The trio fought Buno D'rhad, and on defeating the creature, Glenn watched in horror as Sephiroth struck down Rosen with his sword. In his fury, Glenn kicked a necklace containing a picture of Sephiroth's mother into the ocean.

In [ μ ] – εγλ 2000, Glenn found Sephiroth alone, surrounded by behemoths he had slain and clearly distracted, trying to call Genesis on the phone. Glenn took advantage of the opening and attacked, before greeting Sephiroth and noting that it had been a while since the two had last seen. He implied knowing about Genesis's disappearance, claiming that the reason he was privy to the information was "because I'm a hero". He warned Sephiroth of an aerial raid ordered to eliminate Genesis and the SOLDIER defectors, hinting that he was privy to the information because he had friends in high places.

At some point after [ ν ] – εγλ 0001, Glenn—who had advanced to the rank of colonel—and his team defected from Shinra and began forging alliances with others who held anti-Shinra sentiments, leading to the formation of the Shinra Resistance Committee. Glenn and his team led a coup d'état against the government of Wutai, placing Godo Kisaragi under house arrest. Glenn became one of the leaders of the interim government under the mysterious Viceroy Sarruf, but was shot in the back by Rufus Shinra and left for dead.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth[]

In [ ν ] – εγλ 0007, Glenn paid a visit to Rufus in Junon in "Dawn of a New Era", mocking the new Shinra president's surprise at his apparent survival and stating that Rufus had indeed killed him during their last encounter. Glenn now dressed in a floor-length black robe in vein of a Sephiroth-clone. Mockingly congratulating Rufus for his inauguration, Glenn sought assurances that Rufus intended to honor President Shinra's arrangement with Viceroy Sarruf to procure the magnus materia. When Rufus posited that he had a new vision for the company separate from his late father's, Glenn mocked his obsession with finding the promised land and agitated for renewed war between Shinra and Wutai as a means to restore the planet's lifestream.

Glenn later appeared before Rufus at the Shinra Building, manifesting from a vortex of dark energy and mocking him before disappearing when Rufus rebuked him, approving of Rufus's ruthlessness and anger. As a pretext for war, Glenn sent a squad of ninja to the Nibel Reactor, where they were gunned down by Shinra security forces. Glenn issued a public broadcast to the members of the underground Shinra Resistance Committee, telling them that the time for revolution was at hand, citing Rufus firing the Sister Ray during his inauguration and Professor Hojo's bioweapons experiments as acts of war.

In the wake of the destruction of the Temple of the Ancients, Glenn again appeared before Rufus in his office and asked if he had seen Viceroy Sarruf–who had been absent during Glenn's declaration of war. In response to Rufus's allegation that Sarruf did not exist, Glenn stated that the broadcast still got the intended result–rallying Shinra's enemies for renewed war against the corporation. When Rufus accused Glenn of trying to distract him from pursuing Sephiroth, Sephiroth revealed that he was using Glenn as a guise to start a war with Wutai. Sephiroth used Glenn's image to sneer that the plan was already in motion and that their "promised land" would become a reality. When Rufus pulled his gun on Glenn, snapping that he wanted the real promised land and not a cheap imitation, the ex-SOLDIER scoffed that a cheap imitation was all Rufus deserved. As "Glenn" walked away, Rufus shot him in the back; "Glenn" reminiscing about his first death before disappearing into dark energy—revealing him to have been just another black robe.

Characteristics[]

Appearance[]

Glenn is a young man with a stocky build and short blond hair. Outside of his SOLDIER uniform, Glenn wears a bright red hooded parka. He wears a black leather raincoat when confronting Sephiroth. In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, he dresses in the outfit of a "robed man" in a floor-length black robe.

Personality[]

Glenn is upbeat and optimistic, constantly cracking jokes even in the midst of battle. He is brash and impulsive, but with reliable intuition, acting on gut instinct to get himself and his squadmates out of sticky situations. He is careless with money; despite his grandmother being sick in the hospital, he lost most of his money gambling, and owes Matt over 4,000 gil. Because of his debt, Glenn is heavily focused on the monetary reward for their mission, constantly thinking up ways to earn more gil, including selling information on the baloirs to the bestiary team.

Glenn's impulsivity also stems from his fear of being forgotten. He considers a bad rap better than no rap at all, and will threaten violence and force his teammates to smell his socks in an effort to be memorable. In spite of his apparent aloofness to the feelings and comfort of others, Glenn is highly empathetic, especially towards children and the elderly. He values compassion, and instills that value in young Sephiroth.

Abilities[]

Glenn is a heavy physical attacker. In Glenn's limit break, Blazing Onslaught, he throws a flash grenade at the enemy before hitting and kicking it, finishing with a blow from his hammer. Glenn's second limit break, Stage of Defeat, charges his hammer for one massive blow.

Behind the scenes[]

Glenn was designed by Tetsuya Nomura to act as a foil to Matt, who was originally envisioned as the protagonist. Motomu Toriyama suggested making Glenn the protagonist due to his more charismatic personality and the backstory of him trying to save money to help his grandmother was created to make him more relatable.^[4] Though appearing in The First Soldier and Ever Crisis first, Glenn was actually a character made for Rebirth who was later turned into the main character of The First Soldier.^[5]

Etymology[]

According to Tetsuya Nomura, Glenn's name is derived from the word "green" in "green matcha tea", which he was drinking at the time he named the members of Glenn's crew, with Matt being derived from "matcha" and Lucia from "tea", respectively.^[6]

[view · edit · purge]Glenn is a unisex name of Gaelic origin, meaning glen or valley.

Lodbrok (also Lothbrok, from Loðbrok) is a surname of Old Norse origin. Its meaning is uncertain, but has been translated as "shaggy pants", being the surname of legendary Viking figure and Scandinavian king Ragnar Lodbrok. Among his recorded exploits, Lodbrok raided villages in the British Isles in what is now northern England and southern Scotland. He reportedly met his death in a pit full of venomous snakes, after which he was succeeded by his son, Ivar "the Boneless" Ragnarsson.

Citations[]